Wednesday federal headlines – January 14, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • The General Services Administration is now in charge of new requests for dot-gov domains. The Office of Governmentwide Policy has seven new requirements for government sites and eight standards for managing government domains from the Office of Management and Budget. (Federal News Radio)
  • The House passed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act today on vote of 236-191. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers introduced the bill. It puts funding for the department at nearly $40 billion for fiscal 2015. Funding for DHS ends at the end of February. (Federal News Radio)
  • A woman who died in a Washington Metro train malfunction was a government contractor. Carol Glover, 61, was an analyst for IT Company DKW Communications. Her supervisor Cliff Andrews said she was working on a contract with the Agriculture Department. A train traveling near D.C.’s L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station filled with smoke Monday because of an electrical malfunction. More than 80 people were hospitalized, mostly for smoke inhalation.The Yellow Line remained out of service Tuesday, forcing commuters to the Pentagon to take alternate routes. Regular service has now been restored on Metro. (Federal News Radio)
  • Federal agencies in the Washington, D.C., area are open today, but employees have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. A winter weather advisory is in effect for the region until noon. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Obama Administration is dusting off some old cybersecurity ideas and adding a few new ones. The President said he’ll work with Congress on drafting legislation to encourage cyber threat information-sharing between the government and private sector. Obama also called for toughening laws against cyber attacks and the overseas sales of credit card and bank account numbers. He wants to make the sale of botnets a crime. The strategy announcements followed a string of sensational cyber attacks, most recently against Sony Pictures and U.S. Central Command. (Federal News Radio )
  • Suicides among members of the active-duty military personnel rose by two cases in 2014. Declines in the Army and Marine Corps were offset by increases in the Navy and Air Force. In all, the Pentagon said 288 confirmed suicides occurred last year. In 2012, the number reached 352. The numbers, obtained by the AP, come just after the House unanimously passed a bill aimed at reducing military and veteran suicides. It’s the second time in five weeks the bill cleared the House. In the last session, it was blocked in the Senate by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who has retired. The bill would require independent suicide reviews by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments. They would have to establish websites for information on mental health services. The bill would boost pay for psychiatrists who agree to work for the VA to help service members transition out of active duty. (Federal News Radio)
  • The CyberCaliphate hacking group that attacked the Central Command Twitter account was founded by British citizen Junaid Hussain. He was once jailed for hacking the address book of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. That’s according to unnamed U.S. and European government sources speaking to Reuters. They said the hack bears the markings of Hussain’s group. But they don’t know if he was personally involved. Hussain left Great Britain for Syria sometime in the last two years. Investigators are still trying to figure out from which country the CENTCOM hack originated. (Reuters)
  • A new bill would give the Veterans Affairs Secretary authority to take back senior executives’ bonuses. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) introduced the bill. The measure requires the VA to notify employees ahead of time and give them the opportunity for a hearing. The Secretary’s decision about a repayment is final, and other agencies or courts can’t review the case. The legislation doesn’t list reasons that the VA Secretary can choose to rescind a bonus. Miller said the bill would give VA another way to hold senior executives accountable. (House Veterans Affairs Committee)
  • The Agriculture Department awarded $340 million in grants for conservation projects. It’s part of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. Private companies and local communities in the program will match USDA’s investments. Congress passed legislation last year to authorize the program. The agency plans to spend $1.2 billion on the program between now and 2018. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said the projects are designed to cut down on fertilizer runoff, expand bird nesting areas and restore native grasslands. Breaking down spending, 40 percent of the money so far has gone to multi-state and national projects and another 35 percent went to critical conservation areas. (Federal News Radio)
  • A three-star general will become the first Marine and African American to head the Defense Intelligence Agency. Maj. Gen. Vincent Stewart most recently was head of the Marine Forces Cyber Command. He’ll be promoted to lieutenant general and assume his new role on Jan. 23. The Senate confirmed him last month. Stewart succeeds Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who left DIA last August. Flynn announced he would retire last April, amid conflict with the agency. DIA provides military intelligence to combat units, defense planners and policy makers. (Federal News Radio)
  • For Senior Executive Service members, performance bonuses are getting to be like airline food: lousy and not enough. A new report from the Office of Personnel Management shows 2 percent fewer SESers received the highest performance ratings in 2013 than in the year before. But the number receiving performance bonuses fell 13 percent. To add insult to injustice, the average awards also shrank by more than $500. SES performance ratings fell the most at NASA. (Federal News Radio)

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